Public invited to dedication ceremony at the Wilson County Fairgrounds Dec. 18

LEBANON, Tenn. — The Tennessee Healthy Watershed Initiative and Wilson County will dedicate a second project on Dec. 18, at the James E. Ward Agriculture Center / Fairgrounds, including the implementation of a pervious parking area, rain gardens, nature trails, wetlands, and other techniques to capture and clean stormwater on site before it enters Tennessee’s waters.

NASHVILLE –- The Tennessee Association of Mental Health Organizations (TAMHO) recently honored Douglas Varney, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substan

FRANKLIN, TN— Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) Commissioner John Schroer will join Kendell Poole, Director of the Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office and other state and local law enforcement officials Friday, December 14th at the Williamson County Agriculture Expo Park to launch the Holiday “Booze It and Lose It” Campaign.

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Department of Health will host a media briefing on the outbreak of infections associated with tainted steroid injections on Thursday, Dec. 6 at 11 a.m. Central time. Media members may participate in the briefing via telephone by calling 1-888-757-2790, passcode 781337.

Participants in this conference call are asked to mute their phones after joining the call as a courtesy to other participants, and may unmute phones to ask questions. Participants should not put the call on hold at any time.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – On Thursday, December 6, 2012 the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) will hold a public hearing to gather input on the proposed James White Parkway Extension in Knoxville.

PIKEVILLE - A ribbon cutting ceremony will be held next week to launch the opening of the new Bledsoe County Correctional Complex.  The 430,000 square-foot facility will add 1,540 new beds and bring more than 450 new jobs to the area.

NASHVILLE - The next meeting of the State Soil Conservation Committee will be held Dec. 3 at the Embassy Suites in Cool Springs. 

The meeting will be in conjunction with the annual convention of the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation.  It will be held in the first floor boardroom adjacent to the Junior Ballroom at 4:30 to 5:30 pm.

The agenda includes remarks by state Agriculture Commissioner Julius Johnson, and reports from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture Water Resources program and the Tennessee Association of Conservation Districts.

NASHVILLE – Tennessee Department of Veterans Affairs Assistant Commissioner Mark Breece will join the West Tennessee State Veterans Home Steering Committee for their next meeting on Wednesday, November 21 at 12:00 p.m. at Balmoral Presbyterian Church located at 6413 Quince Road in Memphis.

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee State Fair and Exposition Commission will meet Nov. 28 at 2 p.m. CST in the Ed Jones Auditorium at Ellington Agricultural Center, located at 440 Hogan Road in Nashville. 

The commission will review and approve previous meeting minutes, consider approving an operator for the 2013 Tennessee State Fair and discuss plans for developing criteria for selecting future fair operators. The meeting is open to the public.

The Tennessee State Fair and Exposition Commission was created by the Tennessee General Assembly earlier this year to select and supervise a Tennessee not for profit corporation for the purpose of operating a fair or exposition, and to grant exclusive use of the name “Tennessee State Fair” or “Tennessee State Exposition.”

TVA Transporting Large Transformer to Raccoon Mountain Pumped-Storage Facility

Chattanooga, Tenn. – The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will be transporting a large transformer to the Raccoon Mountain Pumped-Storage Facility in Hamilton County on Sunday, November 18, 2012.  Moving this oversize load will require temporary lane closures on I-24 near Exit 174 on Saturday, November 17 and Sunday, November 18. 

On Saturday morning, Edwards Moving & Rigging, the company that will be performing the move, will close the inside (fast) lane on I-24 East and West at mile marker 174 from 7:00 a.m. to noon EST to remove the cable guardrail and to construct a median crossover for the truck that will haul the transformer. 

On Sunday morning, November 18, TDOT HELP trucks and vehicles from the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office will pace traffic on I-24 beginning at 8:00 a.m. EST as the load is moved across the interstate and onto U.S. 41 at the Tiftonia exit.  After the transformer has been moved across the interstate, the inside lane on I-24 East and West will remain closed while the median crossover is removed and the cable guardrail restored.  All lanes should be reopened to traffic by noon at the latest.